The Art Of Giving Up (Or Not To)
by sctwilightvampwolfgal
Summary: Nathalie really wonders how she puts up with this man sometimes, as infuriating as he often is, and how much frustration her job boils down to lately. *Belated fill to Day One's prompt for GabeNath Week.*


Some days were just bitter reminders for Nathalie of exactly who she worked for and exactly why things were the way that they were. It irritated her to see the neglect housed in such a large-once-home or the fact that Gabriel seemed more eager most days to cause problems rather than try to solve his own. He avoided his problems, except for one, and tended to harpen on others as far as make their problems come to life with more dimension.

In a way, a faulty designed piece of clothing was a problem that he tore into with a vengeance, unless it was his own on a long day, and being Hawkmoth became something less mundane and more interesting than being Gabriel with Designer's block even though Nathalie knew that if he focused his effort on designing that the designs would be better off.

Hawkmoth was an escape for Gabriel that Nathalie often hated. The fact that her boss had owned the Butterfly Miraculous and his wife had owned the Peacock one for some time didn't really amount to much in Nathalie's eyes. It was like a game that she was forced to play, dancing around different themes or ideas to tell his son during Akuma attacks, because Gabriel was often 'too busy' to come up with excuses himself, learning to adjust the schedule and tolerate it falling apart when Gabriel dons that suit.

Nathalie hates it some days worse than others, and today was one of those days, a wayward Akuma from the night before was still loose, three photoshoots were pushed back, Adrien for some reason was absent from school during most Akuma attacks as Nathalie had just received a letter for, and the designers at Gabriel felt overworked. Nothing went right when an Akuma was on the loose, and Nathalie liked filing hthings into a neat order and keeping them there even if she had to wrestle things into some resemblance of order. Nathalie wasn't raised to just be a doormat, incapable of fixing the little things that break or shrivel up. She loved her job, wouldn't work with scheduling and being a secretary and making up explanations to tell Adrien if she didn't love the main parts of her job.

"Gabriel, we've had to reschedule three photoshoots already, Cat Noir and Ladybug are still out there trying to find a rogue Akuma, and you are not getting anything done." Nathalie growled, feeling more like a pissed off lion than a secretary and ready to pulverize Gabriel by the skin of her teeth if he didn't pause to consider what all of this meant some time soon.

"Nathalie, tomorrow could be a new day that is finally in order." Gabriel smiled, and the joy that he found in trying to obtain two more Miraculouses to add to his 'growing collection' to make a wish was driving her insane by the second.

"Or, we could have too superheroes isolated, out on the streets, your wife might not come back, and your son discovers what a destroyed modeling career looks like?" Nathalie was half convinced that she was seeing red, and it wasn't the red dye in her hair.

"No, what's broken can always be fixed. Isn't that what you told me when you first starting working here and had to deal with stress 'that you'd never known?'"

"I didn't mean it in the way that you seem to praise it. Get over yourself. Your son hasn't been home nearly as often as you believe. His chaffeur can't find him, and you can't get jewelry out of your head." Once upon a time ago, Nathalie had saw the kind of joy or interest in a wish, one that would make her life feel more complete than what it feels like now, but she still hasn't found the words for what it is she wants exactly.

"He'll be home. I didn't hire lunatics that can't do their jobs unless you'd like to be one?" He was irritated, clearly, by how she'd reacted, but she knew just how elusive things that didn't seem to be, could actually be. Gabriel Agreste was exactly why she'd admit to that much, at least.

"Go Akumatize yourself!" She shrieked in a blind fit of rage and stormed towards the door, half eager to be fired if only not to deal with this man who clearly was the insane one out of all of them.

"May be I will." Was his retort, half lost in something a lot calmer and a lot more curious. Did he even know what that would entail?  
Nathalie couldn't help but wonder why she put up with this mad man. May be it was the sense of struggle and of duty that kept her going onward, learning to adjust, and challenge herself to be greater or perhaps a part of her felt for Adrien as if he'd become a surrogate son. She'd never wanted children as far as she could recall and certainly didn't act like Adrien's mother, but shielding him from the truth of his father's occupation could be like protecting him.

She still wasn't sure why she didn't just turn in a two weeks' notice and let Gabriel Agreste find someone else to be privy to his secrets and help him cause more mayhem and distraction to get a chance of a wish that might not even go in his favor. Nothing ever seemed as right in the long run if something fell out of place, and weren't all those genie stories warnings anyway?

Nathalie Sancoeur wasn't born a quitter, but on days, like today, sometimes Gabriel Agreste sure made her wish that she was.


End file.
